The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-07-30
TYPICAL EXPRESSIONS FROM
BEECHER'S SERMONS.

MIR. Beecher never delivered a dis
course in which there were not many
gems. A hasty glance through many
of his published utterances discloses
these epigrammatic thoughts upon
every page. A few of them are culled
and presented below, but they of ne
cessity lack completeness and serve bet
ter to show Mr.. Beecher's originality of
expression than the breadth of his mind.
The misconceptions of religion and the
quarrelings of the sects were frequent
topics with him:
Religion is very slim, lean, gaunt.
poor, ill-fed thing as it is ordinarily con-
ceived in this world.
"Men sit around tool-chest quarrel
ing about saws and planes and chisels.
They are not building anything; they
are debating about tools. They are fit
to be theological seminary.
''That kind of revival preaching
which seeks to drive men into heaven
by the fear of hell is not Christianity.
1t is the worst form of paganism.
''Sects are candlesticks, and man or
woman that is big enough to be good
for anything, is too large for any sect.
"Why is it that men think it incum-
bent upon them to be cats and dogs in
religion and gentlemen in everything
outside of it ?''
Sunday with him was not day Of
gloom, and he took frequent occasion to
show the needlessness of being sombre
on that day.
II esteem the awfulness that is at
tached to Sunday, and the church, and
the pulpit, the greatest mistake of
Christendom.
''The prevalent idea of keeping the
Sabbath is that it is day on which
certain things must not be done. To
the majority of people, Sunday is day
full Of nots.
81 am in favor Of any movement that
helps anybody to appreciate Sunday as
a day Of rest, of healthful and pure
pleasures, and that will gently lead
men, women and children from the
things of low estate to the higher"
Some of his utterances on the ques-
tion Of death and the future life are
peculiarly appropriate and beautiful.
"To one who is living Alright, no death
can be sudden and no place unfavorable.
One step and all roads meet.
"Dying is the best part of life to one
who knows how to live worthily.
eff the life that has gone out has
been like music, full of concords, full of
sweetness, richness, delicacy, truth,
then there are two ways to look at it:
One is to say, L have not lost itl' An
other to say, Blessed be God that 1
have had it so long ?
When we comprehend the fullness of
what death will do for us, in all our
outlook and forelook, dying is triumph
ing. Nowhere is there SO fair sight,
SO sweet prospect, as when young
soul is passing away out of life and
time through the gate of death-the
rosy, the royal, the COLDER n, the pearly
gate of death.
death is as sweet as flowers are. 1t
is as blessed as bird-singing in Spring.
1 never hear of the death of any one
who is ready to die, that my heart does
not sing like harp. l am sorry for
those thai are left behind, but not for
those who have gone before.
GAS grow older and come nearer to
death, l look upon it more and more
with complacent joy, and out of every
longing l heard God say %, trusting,
hungering one, come to me- What the
other life will bring know not, only
that shall awake in Gods likeness and
see him as he is"
His ever exuberant and joyous nature
was a constant protest against the as
celtic in religion or in daily life.
Don't NOPE. Be young as long as
you live. Laugh a good deal. Frolic
every day. A low tone of life is I'M
healthy.
ga lawyer who works ten months in
the year and then for two solid months
amuses himself, will last twice as long
as if he took no recreation"